Miners blank Chinooks

PALMER — The Mat-Su Miners pitching staff enjoyed another stellar night during a victory at Hermon Brothers Field Monday night.

Five Mat-Su arms combined to pitch a six-hit shutout during a 4-0 win over the Chugiak-Eagle River Chinooks.

“I thought our pitchers did a great job tonight, they competed well in the zone,” Miners head coach Ben Taylor said in a press release issued by the team after the win.

Jacob Hughey earned his second win over the Chinooks in about a week. The lefty improved to 2-0 on the mound, thanks to five shutout innings. Hughey allowed three hits, fanned four and walked two.

“He gritted his way through five innings for us,” Taylor said. “He did a good job, and he’ll bounce back really well for us. Jacob is a tough competitor.”

Carlos Vega, Gage O’Brien, Gage Burland and Jordan Floyd combined for four innings of work, each throwing one inning. Floyd fanned three hitters in the ninth.

Infielder Jake Scudder drove in a pair of runs to lead the Miners at the plate. Scudder hit his second home run of the season against the Chinooks, driving a pitch over the right field wall in the second inning to give his team the 1-0 lead.

“I was thinking off-speed, but he threw me a fastball inside and I got the head of the bat on it just enough, and snuck one out,” Scudder said in the release. “It felt good to get the hands inside on that pitch.”

Scudder leads the Miners with eight RBI.

“He is a veteran guy and the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year,” Taylor said. “he has some power that gave us a big life and took pressure off some guys.”

Tyler Wyatt also had a hit and drove in a run. Michael Donadio also collected a hit in his Mat-Su Miner debut.

The Miners started a big two-game home series against the Peninsula Oilers Thursday night at Hermon Brothers. The teams entered the series tied at the top of the Alaska Baseball League standings. Mat-Su took a 6-4 mark into the series.

Results of Thursday’s contest were not available prior to press time. The series continues Friday at 7 p.m. at Hermon Brothers.